Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

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The Role of the Argeadai in the
Legitimation of the Ptolemaic
Dynasty
Rhetoric and Practice
Margarita Lianou
T he dynasty of the Ptolemies proved the most enduring of all the
royal houses that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great.
In this respect, it was the most successful. However, the enduring
presence of Ptolemaic Egypt as a political unit in the power map of
the Hellenistic world was the result of factors that went beyond the
cohesion of its dynastic organization. 1 As a matter of fact, the very
weaknesses of that organization contributed to the destabilization of
the broader system of the Hellenistic world and allowed the Romans
to intervene in it as early as the close of the third century B.C. 2 The
struggle for power and succession among competing dynastic groups
endemic to all monarchic states was exacerbated by the self-serving
practices of the Romans, which played potential candidates for
succession off against their rivals. 3 The kingdom was eventually
weakened to such an extent that it was fi nally incorporated into the
provinces of the Roman Empire. 4
In spite of the fact that similar instability had already characterized
succession in the hereditary dynastic monarchy of Argead Macedonia,
this still constituted the most recognizable paradigm of government
for the generals who partitioned the Empire after the death of
Alexander. 5 Every single one from this new generation of state-
builders ventured to establish their own dynastic monarchy with
varying degrees of success. 6 The urgent circumstances, though, that
brought about their assumption of satrapal power, followed by the
endorsement of a royal title, entailed a radical break from the established
royal Macedonian tradition. None of these military men, who
became kings over portions of Alexander’s former empire, were rightful
members of the Argead dynasty. 7 The monarchy was a central institution
in Macedonia and the dynasty was the center of that monarchy.
In almost four hundred years of recorded Macedonian history, up
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